Special Keynote Dr. Chan Hellman
Professor of social work and Director of The Hope Research Center.
University of Oklahoma
Chan M. Hellman is a professor of social work at the University of Oklahoma and Director of The Hope Research Center. He has written more than 150 scientific publications and has presented at numerous national and international conferences worldwide. Chan also presented his work on hope with TEDx in May of 2021. Chan’s research is focused on hope as a psychological strength helping children and adults overcome trauma and adversity. This research informed the development of the “Hope Centered and Trauma Informed” training program. Chan is the co-author of the award-winning book “Hope Rising: How the Science of Hope Can Change Your Life” with his co-author, Casey Gwinn published by Morgan James. As a result of this work, Chan was one of five invited workshops for Jane Goodall’s Activating Hope Summit held November 2021.
https://www.ou.edu/cas/socialwork/faculty-staff/faculty-contact/chan-hellman
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Professor of social work and Director of The Hope Research Center.
University of Oklahoma
Patricia Apy, MSW, Esq.
Family Law Partner
Paras, Apy, & Reiss
Ms. Patricia Apy, MSW, has, since 1996, been a partner in the law firm of Paras, Apy, & Reiss, a professional corporation specializing in the practice of family law. Ms. Apy’s areas of expertise is in complex family litigation, particularly international and interstate family litigation. Ms. Apy has litigated, been qualified as an expert witness and consulted on international family disputes throughout the world, including locations as diverse as the United Kingdom, Brazil, Italy, Israel, Australia, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, and United Arab Emirates. Ms. Apy frequently consults and is regularly qualified as an expert on issues related to the application of religiously based family law systems, including Sharia (Islamic) Law, Halacha (Jewish) Law, and the application of the Hindu Marriage Act (Indian Law). She speaks throughout the United States and Canada on family dispute resolution in both Hague and “non-Hague” countries and in assessing risk factors for international child abductions legal education for judge advocate general corps of all the United States Armed Services at bases and on vessels around the world.
https://par-law.com/patricia-apy/
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Family Law Partner
Paras, Apy, & Reiss
Kendra Hamlin, LCSW
Adjunct Professor
Oral Roberts University
Kendra Hamlin, LCSW, graduated with honors from Wichita State University where she earned her Master’s in Social Work with a minor in Psychology. Her professional background includes a variety of experience from public service to social service, however, she is most fulfilled when she can encourage, empower, motivate, and uplift others. Kendra is currently an adjunct professor with the ORU Social Work Program. She also works full-time as a medical social worker and is a part of a multidisciplinary team who works diligently to ensure successful outcomes for patients and to achieve organization goals. In addition, Kendra is currently working on finalizing the branding and launching her private practice for counseling services. As an enthusiastic clinician in the helping profession, Kendra has developed a strong passion for client advocacy, mental wellness and self-care. Kendra is firm believer that building strong and genuine relationship with her peers and those that she serves is truly the key to being a successful practitioner. As a critical yet innovative thinker, she enjoys bringing creative ideas to the table, “thinking outside the box” and developing/employing new approaches to accomplishing the task at hand. Her personal motto is: “With grace…growth and evolution are inevitable!”.
https://oru.edu/academics/cose/undergraduate/social-work.php
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Adjunct Professor
Oral Roberts University
Dr. Jason Beaman
Chair & Clinical Assistant Professor
Oklahoma State University
Dr. Jason Beaman, Chair and Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Oklahoma State University, graduated medical school from Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences. He then completed two simultaneous residencies in Psychiatry and Family Medicine. After residency, Dr. Beaman completed a fellowship in Forensic Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He holds board certifications in Family Medicine, Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, and Addiction Medicine. After Fellowship, Dr. Beaman completed a Master’s Degree in Pharmacology with an emphasis in Forensics at the University of Florida. He also obtained a Master’s in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Beaman currently serves as the Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, as well as the Executive Director of Training and Education for the National Center for Wellness & Recovery at OSU Medicine.
https://scholars.okstate.edu/en/persons/jason-beaman
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Chair & Clinical Assistant Professor
Oklahoma State University
Dr. Haley French
Assistant Professor
Oral Roberts University
Dr. Haley French is an Assistant Professor of Professional Counseling at ORU. She holds a B.A. in Sacred Music (2006) and an M.Div. (2009) from ORU, an M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Denver Seminary (2012), and a Ph.D. in Practical Theology from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland (2019). She is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Oklahoma and Colorado. She has 10 years of clinical counseling experience and specializes in anxiety disorders, grief and bereavement, vocational and spiritual issues. Academically, she specializes in the area of integration studies concerning the intersection of counseling and Christianity.
https://oru.edu/faculty/haley-french.php
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Assistant Professor
Oral Roberts University
Stacey Blaylock, MSW, LCSW
Program Director, Oral Roberts University Social Work
Oral Roberts University
Stacey R. Blaylock is Director of the Social Work Program & Assistant Professor of Social Work at Oral Roberts University.
Stacey has practiced as a medical social worker for six years, most recently at St. John Medical Center as the Trauma Social Worker. A returning alumna, she earned her BSW from ORU, as well as her MSW from the University of Oklahoma and is an Oklahoma Board-approved and -licensed Clinical Social Worker.
Regarding teaching, Professor Blaylock says, “My classroom philosophy centers on experiential learning and information retention. Experiential learning cultivates an environment of engaged learning, rather than a passive learning environment as traditionally implied in higher education. I deliver course content in a way that provides students with a personal learning experience, resulting in students retaining and recalling information more effectively. Witnessing students apply the concepts from the classroom into their practicum is rewarding.”
Outside of the classroom, her accomplishments include: Winner of the 2019 Innovation in Online Teaching Award; lecturer at the 2019 Marketplace Leadership Institute (MLI) in Singapore, presenting on Emotional Intelligence and Cultural Sensitivity in the Marketplace and Ministry; annual presenter at the NASW Oklahoma State Conference with presentations focused on the ethical use of social media in social work, as well as the non-traditional role of Police Social Work; served as the NASW Tulsa Branch President from 2013 to 2014; current member of the NASW Oklahoma.
https://oru.edu/academics/cose/undergraduate/social-work.php
About Stacey Blaylock, MSW, LCSW
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Program Director, Oral Roberts University Social Work
Oral Roberts University
Dr. Randall Feller, Ph.D., LMFT
Senior Professor
Oral Roberts University
Dr. Randall Feller, Ph.D., LMFT, currently serves as a Senior Professor in the Behavioral Sciences Department at Oral Roberts University. He is also a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, a Licensed Psychologist, and an Ordained Minister. Prior to coming to ORU, he was the owner and director of Behavioral Health Associates of Tulsa, a private practice which focused on providing services to developmentally-disabled clients. Simultaneously, he was the primary administrator of a church-based counseling center, addressing a wide range of parent-child, marital, and family problems. He was also formerly the Director of the Family Sexual Abuse Treatment Program at Family & Children’s Services and presented Public Safety Awareness and Prevention Programs through grants from the Office of Child Abuse Prevention in Oklahoma. Prior to his clinical experience, he taught in the Tulsa Public School system, overseas in Dakar Senegal at Dakar Academy, at Oklahoma State University, and at Wichita State University before coming to ORU. Dr. Feller received his B.M.E. in Music Education from Oral Roberts University, his M.S. in Counseling and Student Personnel from Oklahoma State University, and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Oklahoma State University.
https://oru.edu/faculty/randall-feller.php
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Senior Professor
Oral Roberts University
Joshua Knowles, MSW
Program Fellow
Anne & Henry Zarrow Foundation
With over a decade of youth program management and direct service experience, Knowles now serves as a Program Fellow at The Anne & Henry Zarrow Foundation to help leverage grantmaking to generate long-lasting solutions.
Knowles contributes to the social work knowledge base through collaborative research efforts and his lectures regarding his studies on juvenile justice reform and social work involvement in immigration enforcement & services with the hopes to encourage future social workers to understand the value of the research.
Knowles is a proud both graduate from both Oral Roberts University and University of Kansas often presents on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion principles and trauma-informed care in faith-based settings to ensure good intentions are met with best practices. Through his experience and roles on multiple advisory boards, Knowles passionately advocates for all social service providers as they play an essential role in the well-being of our society.
About Joshua Knowles, MSW
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Program Fellow
Anne & Henry Zarrow Foundation
Mike Brose, MSW
Retired, Executive Director
Adjunct Faculty Oral Roberts
Michael Brose was born in Liberal, Kansas and attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa where he earned his bachelor’s degree in social work in 1979. He attended the University of Kansas and graduated with an MSW in social work in 1980 before returning to Tulsa where he and his wife Maren have made their home since. Mike has worked extensively with individuals living with serious mental illness and their families. He has also worked in juvenile justice, medical social work, and geriatric mental health care. He served as the Director of Family Therapy at St. John Medical Center from 1987 to 1992. He became the director of the Mental Health Association Oklahoma in 1993 and served as the CEO there for 27 years, overseeing growth from five employees to almost two hundred as a statewide organization. He currently practices privately with individuals and families, consults, and volunteers in the community and across the state.
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Retired, Executive Director
Adjunct Faculty Oral Roberts
Mike Mathews
Vice President of Global Learning and Innovation
Oral Roberts University
Michael L. Mathews, Vice President of Global Learning and Innovation, at Oral Roberts University has over 24 years of experience as a senior level IT executive, bringing creative solutions that value the end users of education, technology, and business process management. These solutions have benefited the end users of higher education, manufacturing, and high technology company products. Mike spent 12 years working at Cray
Research where he trained hundreds of supercomputer engineers across major industry sectors. Michael has held positions as a VP of Innovation, chief
information officer, general manager of CIOs, chief strategist for innovation, business development officer, trainer, teacher, and vice president of academic services for leading corporations and higher education. Mike has been a CIO within higher education and corporate training for over 19 years.
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Vice President of Global Learning and Innovation
Oral Roberts University
Michael Weitzman
Social Worker
Oral Roberts University
Michael grew up in the foster system in Southern California, living in eight homes by the age of five, before he was ultimately adopted. At the age of 15, 10 years later, Michael's adoptive family decided it was best to have him placed back into state care leading to him living in four more homes by the time he turned 17, two years later. At 17 years old, through a number of miraculous circumstances, Michael moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to start a new life for himself. For the last seven years Michael has vocationally focused his efforts in the tech space beginning with basic web design, successfully starting his own freelance digital marketing company, before eventually becoming a software engineer for a number of established and reputable tech companies including CarePortal (a platform that helps connect local churches to vulnerable children and families) and Dave Ramsey’s company, Ramsey Solutions. Michael also has a huge desire and motivation to serve others, most specifically children, teenagers and at-risk youth. Michael has been on seven international mission trips so far (Ecuador for two weeks in 2015, Ecuador for six months in 2016, Honduras for a week each summer in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2022 and Cuba in 2019) and has mentored and discipled hundreds of teenagers across Sand Springs, Oklahoma through his active involvement in his previous local church and its youth group. Through his story, love for children, plethora of personal ministry and public service experience and involvement with CarePortal, Michael has become committed to using his life and testimony to serve as many foster kids and alumni as he can. In May of 20222, Michael had the distinct privilege and honor of receiving the very first prestigious Fostering the Future scholarship from former First Lady, Melania Trump finally affording him the opportunity to go to college. Michael is now a freshman at Oral Roberts University studying social work and political science. Upon completion of his undergraduate degree, Michael aims to do a dual-degree program, obtaining his MSW and family law degree and then pursuing a career that gives him vast influence over policy that affects vulnerable children.
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Social Worker
Oral Roberts University
